I am known as a “bandwagon hockey fan” something any real hockey lover is required to disdain or at the very least frown heavily upon. We’re the ones who sail in when things are looking up and start loudly proclaiming our passion for the winning team. Frequently our enthusiasm can be mistaken for the real thing. So how does a ‘real fan’ distinguish themselves from the lunatic posturing of the bandwagon fan?

Well for one thing, the real fan actually wants to watch the game. Frequently the real fan can be found hiding alone somewhere in a quiet place where they can actually see and hear what’s going on. A wannabe such as myself just wants to jump up and down and pump their fist in the air preferably with a loud, rowdy group of people around. I desperately want to The Canucks to win, I just don’t need to know how and I need to show my bandwagon love in a large open public space along with thousands of others.

Against all prevailing common sense, we waded into downtown Vancouver after the game started on Friday because I wanted to scream and yell, pump my fist in the air and dance around with billions of other people. Doing this in your living room in front of your TV doesn’t have the same level of emotional resonance as being able to slap people’s hands after a goal. Why is it that people like to gather in public places with complete strangers for these kinds of things and do things that appears not unlike an instinctive kind of behaviour our primate cousins might do. So not only am I an unabashed bandwagon hockey fan, but I’m a true hockey primate as well.